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WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan’s huge signing to World Championship Wrestling in June earlier in the year was a sign that perhaps things would change.

To an extent, that was correct.

Hogan’s arrival brought more money and sponsorships to WCW and his creative pull allowed him to bring in various faces of his past and recreate some magic.

Still, for every feud he had with Ric Flair, there was a Butcher match in the wings. If you told us that he’d be the main event of the biggest show of the year instead of doing the “Loser Must Retire” match there, we would’ve laughed too.

Star power doesn’t always provide a star product. That’s evident up and down through this card, though the quick wits of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan on commentary make it easier to sit through.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 1/18/17)

Rebellious Mediocrity (Of Excellence)

– The Six-Man Tag between The Rebellion and Donovan Dijak/Jay White/Lio Rush was a clever followup to a previous angle where Dijak/White saved Rush when he upset Caprice Coleman in one-on-one action. Rush/White continue to impress with their athleticism. Dijak’s finally in a position where he’s free to do more in the ring as a babyface, not tied down to that senseless association with Prince Nana. Dijak easily tossed Coleman out of the ring, while it was noted that Rush wore kinesio tape to sell the left shoulder injury. Fast action on both ends as Rush avoided Rebellion’s onslaught to get a tag in to White. Rush delivered missile-like suicide dives on opposite ends of the ring. The babyface trio then did simultaneous dives to the outside on each side of the ring. Decent finish as we saw Rush hit a frog splash off Dijak’s shoulders (he’s tall so it works) followed by Dijak’s moonsault to pin Coleman. The post-match angle was more of the same, as Rebellion beat down White and teased the same to Coleman before they set him down gently (another tease for him to be recruited) before The Motor City Machine Guns came down to patrol.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 1/11/17)

Droned In

– Christopher Daniels’ hype video promo did a good job of showing his refocused goal of his “destiny to become Champion” in the midst of the Decade Of Excellence Tournament that he was a part of. He defeated Mark Briscoe last week to advance to the second round. He spoke about how he made a name for himself in 2002 and they wisely played back footage of those classic Murphy Rec Center days when he denied handshakes and broke the mold as the face of The Prophecy, despite never holding the ROH World Championship. They flashed back to now, to where he gives those handshakes and obeys the Code Of Honor, a presumed changed man. With this kind of package, we could tell this next push was set to be a serious one. It also helps to get more passionate promos like this one, because that’s what Daniels does best these days.

With the unenviable task to cover every single 2016 episode of Raw, SmackDown (even before it was “Live”), NXT, Impact Wrestling and Pay-Per-View/Live Specials (all 29), we’ve seen things that cannot be forgotten.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 12/7/16)

By Honor, For Honor

– If anybody hoped for meaningful post-Final Battle television, look elsewhere. However, since already here, why not stay awhile? We’ll keep you comfortable. Anyways, the Cheeseburger/Will Ferrara-Tempura Boyz match was throwaway material, but some decent action involved. Joey “Diesel” Daddiego (The House Of Truth’s former J. Diesel) was on commentary and put over Ferrara/Cheeseburger as hard workers in the dojo. Daddiego used to come off like a mini-Batista, but now that he talked, he was like a hybrid of Taz and Nunzio. At least Cheeseburger continues to grow in popularity. That shouldn’t be hard. The guy’s freakin’ name’s Cheeseburger. Fast-paced action as you’d expect. TB hit a nice codebreaker/German suplex combo before they won with a superkick/package piledriver combo on Cheeseburger. TB seem cool, though we still don’t know much about them besides their tasty name. Cheeseburgers and Tempura. Yummy. The post-match angle with Prince Nana and Donovan Dijak continued the inevitable Nana/Dijak split, as the manager demanded his client to “get this wet” and make easy work of Ferrara. Dijak showed brief hesitation before he picked Ferrara up and slammed him down twice. That prompted Daddiego to leave the booth and confront Dijak, as he challenged him to a match. Sure, why not?

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 10/26/16)

(Un)Broken Spirits

– With the team of Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle still fresh on the tag scene, they needed wins to score some credibility. With a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championships at a Baltimore live event soon to come, this was a golden chance to keep the babyface team hot and they shelled out some new talent from New Japan Pro Wrestling in The Tempura Boys to do the process. While it felt like commentary spoke too much about TB and how they wanted to be known by only their first names, the actions of Cabana/Castle were enough to tell the right story. A smart mix of comedy, fast-action and great double-team moves, Cabana/Castle easily got past TB when Castle hit the Bangarang to score the pin.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 9/28/16)

A Tightened Grip On Legacy

– The Silas Young-Toru Yano match was a randomly thrown out on television to air out the two’s character differences, all the more clear as Young was angry and Yano was a jokester. Kind of entertained at Young’s heel skills, as he even yelled at a kid on his birthday and wished him a terrible one. Yano’s charisma was on display as he purposely ticked off Young several times with his humor and did his signature spots from New Japan Pro Wrestling where he took the turnbuckle pad off and performed a low blow, all behind the Referee’s back. There were some good trades of near-falls towards the finish, as it came down to Young’s use of Yano’s own tactics against him to win on a point where he pulled the tights after a low blow. Young certainly needed the win and that was good to see, but we were baffled at why this would take place on the All Star Extravaganza go-home show, that was until the post-match angle where The Briscoe Brothers saved Yano from a further beatdown by Young. This made sense since Yano and The Briscoes would be partners at ASE as they’d pursue the Six-Man Tag Team Tournament.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 9/7/16)

Some Lethal Backup

– The opening video sent us back to Ring Of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor XIV Pay-Per-View when ROH World Champion Adam Cole shocked the world and defeated Jay Lethal to win the belt before he was soundly laid out by an angry Kyle O’Reilly.

There was also a pretty good undercard – Roderick Strong (who was knowingly leaving the company shortly) vs. Mark Briscoe in a “Battle For Respect,” as well as a ROH World Television Championship encounter between Champion Bobby Fish and Dalton Castle.

Going two years in the making, we’d also finally get that Steve Corino-BJ Whitmer match.

When it comes down to it, this show succeeded at giving fans a little bit of everything to whet their appetites. No standout matches, but consistent nevertheless.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 6/30/15)

Foley Turns 50

– David Adams and Big Deal Craig Steele did a solid job setting up the night’s matches, especially going in-depth in the longest PWS rivalry between Habib From The Car Wash and Matt Macintosh, which spanned two continents and a deportation angle.